Nancy Appointment 36 weeks

Currently Craving: Only Chocolate All the Time

now that i'll be going to see nancy once a week until babe comes i'm going to have to update about her more often too i suppose. that's fine.

yesterday morning we had our 8 am appointment. we made our appointments 8 am on mondays because it is a good time for max with the way his work flows... but of course, yesterday he couldn't come. yesterday max got in at 6 am from driving all night from a race weekend in Ohio where he scored 6th in the nation. babe and i are very proud. but i was pretty tired when i got up and went out to nancy's.

appointment was the same as ever. i'm still gaining weight and i'm looking forward to the end of that part. maybe i'll even lose a pound or two before she's even born. but probably if my diet is only chocolate that won't happen. and my blood pressure and babe's heart rate sound good. babe was in the same position as before with her back to the right side of my belly and her bum way up in my ribs. that was a move from sunday evening when she was totally curled in a tiny little ball near my belly button. still head down though so no complaints. nancy essentially said i'm in good shape as far as getting ready for delivery because the way i'm carrying is nice. she's not hanging out everywhere like a big basketball and i'm 'all baby.' (as opposed to some chocolate some baby maybe?)

we spent most of the time talking about early labor and moving into the more intense stages of first stage labor. she gave suggestions of things to eat that will come back up easily if needed. (fun). and generally suggested in the beginnings of labor to think about three things: "rest, nourishment, and being peaceful" and we talked about how it would work with her being the care provider. essentially we'll be in contact by phone for a while until either we ask her to come or she says it's time for her to come. since max wasn't there she's going to go over much of the information again because she said the men need reassuring that the baby isn't going to just be born before nancy gets there... especially when the contractions get to about 2-3 minutes apart. it was pretty interesting to me that she says she can pretty much hear how the labor is progressing over the phone and can even judge a bit how dilated the woman is through the conversations. she said in coming weeks after she checks me again she'll talk to us specifically about what we can expect from my labor based on what my cervix tells her. do OBs do that? so cool.

after that she gave me two herbal supplements to go out and buy and asked me to start on the raspberry leaf tea. supplements are 5W and Evening Primrose Oil. they do a few things that i can't really remember. what i know is that by taking three pills at every meal and drinking the tea i will be helping to tone the uterus, limit the amount of bleeding during and after the birth, regulate hormones, and specifically prime things up for the prosteglandin receptors. and Prosteglandin is what gets labor started so we want those receptors up and running when the show decides to get on the road.

that's about it. next appointment will be next week and it will probably be pretty similar to this one if max comes with me. and eventually we'll have to pick up our tub too. that should be fun.

oh and my mom and my aunt were wondering if nancy still had their birth records. turns out she does... but finding them would be a whole other story. they're all filed in a back room by year and that's it. she said it can take hours to find them. (sounds like a system i would have in place)